1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that can obtain, for example, broadcast programs, video-on-demand (VOD) programs, and so forth and record the obtained programs and to a recording status detection method, a program delivery and recording system, and a program that allow recording statuses of programs of the recording apparatus to be detected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent years, recording apparatuses that can record/reproduce data of programs and contents delivered through various types of transmission media to/from recording media having a large capacity such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), and a Blu-ray disc have become common. Delivery systems for programs and contents are diversified, and examples thereof include a delivery system that uses broadcast radio waves as a transmission medium, such as a terrestrial analog broadcast, a terrestrial digital broadcast, a BS broadcast, and a CS broadcast, and a delivery system that uses a network as a transmission medium, such as an IP multicast system and a video-on-demand (VOD) system.
As services that provide guide information of programs scheduled to be delivered to the user, an electronic program guide (EPG), an electronic content guide (ECG), and so forth are used. Such program guide information contains guide information of programs scheduled to be delivered in the several weeks to come.
A recording apparatus obtains such program guide information and stores it periodically or whenever the power of the apparatus is turned on. In response to a user's request, the recording apparatus causes a display section of an external AV device or the like connected to the recording apparatus to display the stored program guide information. If a program that the user wishes to view is found, with reference to the displayed program guide information, the user selects that program and performs timer-recording or the like for the selected program.
Programs categorized as dramas tend to be a series of programs that are broadcast daily or weekly, for example. It is generally the case that the user wishes to view such a series of programs from Episode 1 to a final episode.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-235193 (paragraph [0035]) (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a recording apparatus that can automatically determine a series of programs and perform timer-recording on programs determined as being the series of programs. This recording apparatus automatically determines programs that are broadcast at predetermined intervals as a series of programs based on EPG data and program recording history, and automatically records the programs as a series of programs to be timer-recorded based on EPG data.